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FBS Playoff Expansion & Realignment


fightingsioux4life

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There are 130 college football teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). While they are all in the same categorical classification, there are two very different groups of conferences within the FBS: The Power 5 Conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac-12 and SEC) and the Group of 5 Conferences (AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC and Sun Belt). There are also 7 independents (Army, BYU, Notre Dame, Liberty, New Mexico State, UMass-Amherst and UConn).

It is obvious that the P5 and G5 schools have little to nothing in common with each other in every important metric (TV money, facilities and other resources, national exposure, etc). It is obvious that the G5 schools have nothing to gain by being in the same subdivision as the P5 schools. They will likely never qualify for the College Football Playoff (even if it expanded significantly). They would be much better off in their own subdivision with schools that have more in common with each other. And there is a concern in some circles that the College Football Playoff is inadequately small at four teams. So here is what a potential realignment of FBS may look like, along with playoff expansion:

Power 5 Conferences (67 teams)

ACC (14)

Big 12 (10)

Big 10 (14)

Pac-12 (12)

SEC (14)

Ind. (3) Army, BYU, Notre Dame

Group of 5 Conferences (63 teams)

AAC (11)

C-USA (14)

MAC (12)

MWC (12)

Sun Belt (10)

Ind. (4) Liberty, New Mexico State, UMass-Amherst, UConn

Big Eight Bowl Games

Peach

Fiesta

Cotton

Orange

Rose

Sugar

Outback

Gator

P5 Playoffs

  • 8 teams (12% of P5 teams)
  • The 5 Conference Champions get autobids, with three at-large bids.
  • Top four seeds host bottom four seeds in quarterfinal games (8 at 1, 7 at 2, 6 at 3, 5 at 4).
  • Quarterfinal winners advance to P5 Semifinals (hosted by two of the Big Eight Bowl Games).
  • Quarterfinal losers advance to two other “consolation” Big Eight Bowl Games.
  • Semifinal winners meet for P5 National Championship.

G5 Playoffs

  • 8 teams (13% of G5 teams)
  • The 5 Conference Champions get autobids, with three at-large bids.
  • Top four seeds host bottom four seeds in quarterfinal games (8 at 1, 7 at 2, 6 at 3, 5 at 4).
  • Quarterfinal winners advance to G5 Semifinals (hosted by two of the Big Eight Bowl Games).
  • Quarterfinal losers advance to two other “consolation” Big Eight Bowl Games.
  • Semifinal winners meet for G5 National Championship.

Big Eight Bowl Games are placed into a rotation involving the P5 and G5 semifinal bowl games and the P5 and G5 “consolation” bowl games. P5 and G5 championship games are stand-alone games separate from the bowls.

The other bowl games can continue operating as they do now, accepting both P5 and G5 teams.

Scholarship Levels

With the split of FBS into two divisions, here are some possible scholarship levels for each of the divisions (P5, G5, FCS, Division 2, Division 3).

100 – P5

80 – G5

60 – FCS

40 – Division 2

0 – Division 3

Feel free to discuss, debate or flame away! :p

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6 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

$$$

Really? What $$$ do they get? They don't get the big bowl games (except for one team). They don't get the exposure. They don't get the rich TV contracts. It is untenable in the long-run. They are red headed stepchildren in the FBS. The P5 conferences might demand this split in the near future, which means it has a good chance of happening.

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1 minute ago, bison73 said:

Where did you get your information on scholarship levels? They are wrong.  D1 FBS is 85.  Doesnt make any difference if you are  P5 or G5.

FCS is 63 full rides that can be broken down in to lessor amounts and given to 85 players.

Those are suggestions of possible scholarship levels after splitting FBS. I know what the current levels are. I think I should clarify it in the original post.

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1 minute ago, bison73 said:

Where did you get your information on scholarship levels? They are wrong.  D1 FBS is 85.  Doesnt make any difference if you are  P5 or G5.

FCS is 63 full rides that can be broken down in to lessor amounts and given to 85 players.

I believe his scholarship numbers are "proposed numbers"...

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Just now, fightingsioux4life said:

Those are suggestions of possible scholarship levels after splitting FBS. I know what the current levels are. I think I should clarify it in the original post.

I picked up on that nuance after I posted hence I deleted my post.

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